


The slightly homeless Harley Keener

by Ihavelikenolife



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Carnival, Harley Keener - centric, I really really don't know, I regrett everything and nothing, Many refrences to the 2012hawkeye comicbook run, Multi, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, and general marvel refrences, complete disregard for most of canon, ignoring CA:CW, many oc's - Freeform, slightly AU, there is gonna be so many refrences bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-04-16 20:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14172882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihavelikenolife/pseuds/Ihavelikenolife
Summary: Harley Keener didn’t exactly know why his aunt had thrown him out. He had some clue as of why, but he wasn’t certain and it’s not like he could walk back in and ask. His Ma had literally worked herself to death and it's not like he had anyone other the aunt that had just thrown him. The road it is then.---Harley gets thrown out of his home and sets out trying to get to New York, cause that's a good place for homeless people, right?





	1. What nice words of a goodbye.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I have ever published, feedback appreciated. Not Beta read, probably should have put that in the tags tho. the first two or three chapters probably aren't the most intresting but, ehh.

Harley Keener didn’t exactly know why his aunt had thrown him out. He had some clue as of why, but he wasn’t certain and it’s not like he could walk back in and ask. He could see his sister looking out from her bedroom window and not really understanding what was going on, and he couldn’t blame her for that, after all she was only nine.

Oh my god, he was actually being thrown out at the age of 13. 

What was he supposed to do now? It was already September, in a few weeks it would be too cold to sleep outside. And where was he supposed to go anyway? His mom had actually worked herself to death. They had no other family that they knew of except the aunt that had just thrown him out. Speaking of her, here she comes again.

“YOU THINK I WOULDN’T FIND OUT? YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION!” and weren’t those the perfect words of a goodbye.   
Harley could feel his heart hammering in his chest, like it was begging to be let out. His aunt started throwing his stuff out and Harley himself had trouble breathing. Tears were welling up in his eyes, tears of shame, humiliation and fear. Had she really found out? Would she really react this badly? If his own family could react like this… Not just his own family, but the only family he had left non-the less.   
Oh god, what was he going to do? What would now happen to his little sister? He was only 13 how was he supposed to survive on the street? He couldn’t stay in Tennessee, could he? Oh god, oh god. 

The second his aunt slammed the door shut and locked it Harley tried staggering himself to his feet. It took a couple of tries, but he did it. He was shaking quite badly, however he did manage to pick up the stuff that was now laying on the wet ground. At least she had been nice enough to throw out two bags and his piggybank. He started shaking more as he packed his stuff into the bags. His aunt had thrown out clothes, a pair of shoes, some jackets, some of the tools and the inventions that had been laying around in his bedroom. No blankets, no pillow, nothing to sleep on, not even an old teddy bear.   
After packing it all down in the two bags, he started walking down the street. Not really sure what to do now, he started to walk towards the rubble the whole Iron Man incident had led to three years prior. It was abandoned, and no one had really done anything with it after Iron Man left.   
When he arrived there it was already dark out. And after walking around for about five minutes he confirmed what he had thought, it was no-one here. 

He was alone.

It was like someone had shifted him into autopilot, because if you asked the next morning he would have no idea how or when he made a makeshift bed with the clothes his aunt had thrown out or when he had found PotatoGun Mark IV and laid down it beside him. But he had done it. It was either him or someone else and he couldn’t remember anyone being there, plus it was a creepy thought.

It took him a couple of seconds to remember everything and start crying when he woke up. He must have been crying for a good hour before his stomach started rumbling. Oh god, oh god, what was he gonna do about food? That was all it took for him to start balling again. The tears pounded down his cheeks like there was a rainstorm going on. Snot started mixing with tears and some of the salty snot-tears got into his mouth while he tried calming himself.   
‘Deep breaths, deeper, deeper, let the hiccups pass and take a deep breath again. Pack your bags and get going, you can hitchhike to New York or Florida. You are a genius, a smart kid, you can figure it out, just get going.’ Harley set these thoughts on repeat as he packed his stuff down again, only stopping when he got to the piggybank. Every cent he had ever gotten was in that piggybank, but how much it was, he wasn’t sure. Well, there was only one way to find out.

Harley gathered all the anger, fear and sorrow he felt and threw the piggybank to the ground. It broke in a million pieces. He started picking up the money. Not really caring about the broken pieces laying around. He let out a snort as he thought about how his mother would have reacted, him with all these sharp pieces that he could hurt himself on.

“That doesn’t matter now though does it, Ma being dead and all” Harley whispered bitterly.   
He only cut himself twice picking it all up, but it didn’t hurt badly so he ignored it. After counting the money twice it seemed he had gathered a little over 300dollars in his 13years of life, it wasn’t bad. He packed the money in many different pockets, some in his jeans other in his jackets and hoodies. The 13yearold made sure to place some of the money in the pants he already wore and some in the outer pockets on both his bags. 

While making his way to the main road he decided that the truck stop was probably a good place to start, that was they did in the movies and books anyway. As an added bonus he could still do the big eyes and trembling lip shebang. Yeah, Harley could totally do this.   
And he did! Kind of…


	2. New in town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update about a week later, wow I'm proud of my self.  
> Many OC's being introduced for a short amount of time tbh, sorry

Harley managed to get a ride to the Kentucky Ohio boarder, but he got nowhere from there. Only four days since he’s been thrown out and he’s stuck again. There were no trucks today that would take him further towards New York. He walked towards the city he had seen not so far away. It was further than he remembered but he kept walking. And walking. And walking. Oh god, did he miss his garage right about now. Too bad it was better locked up than the White House.

He had walk for forever when he took a break. He was lucky enough to come over what looked like a circus. Headed to town probably, but they had broken down. Someone had popped the hood of one pf the cars and he could hear people arguing. There were maybe six trucks behind the one that had broken down, one of which needed more air in their tire. 

Still to curios for his own good, Harley took a look. It wasn’t too hard to fix he just needed the right tools and a look under the car. He started poking and prodding, fixing what he saw and looked some more. That was until someone quite rudely took the back of his shirt and dragged him away.   
“Hey! Watch it would you! If you do this to everyone trying to help it’s no wonder there’s so much wrong. You know you really ought to take better care of your trucks, the one over there need some more air or you’re gonna get another problem” Harley continued talking a mile a minute. He was so getting beaten. He was never going to find a ride with another truck if he Looked like he was on the run. What if they killed him? No, carnies don’t do that. Right?

“Kid! Calm down would’ya?” A man much taller than Harley looked down at him. That was all it took for the 13 year old to snap his mouth shut and take note of the others that had crowded around him. It somehow seemed like the typical carnie people.   
The tall man that had dragged Harley away from the car was bold, but with great black mustache on his face. His face only showed amusement, which helped Harley calm down a bit. 

A woman to the tall mans left had long brown hair, a bored looking face and a short and long body at the same time. She wasn’t that short, maybe the average height, but all of her limbs seemed longer than they should be. 

Next to her again a man, maybe in his late 40s, stood. The older man at least looked like he was the oldest, but Harley couldn’t know for sure. It for sure looked like he was the leader though, probably the ringleader or something. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about this man, the only thing that could have made him stand out on the street was his round belly. 

It was a woman to the tall mans right too. She looked like she was about the same age as the unremarkable round man. Maybe they were a couple? But then again, any or none of these people could be a couple. She too wasn’t to remarkable either, but you could see the lady was pure muscle.

Harley could hear more people, probably in the other trucks, but he was still too scared to look anywhere other than at the four people in front of him. He had to remind himself to not let his face show just how scared he was, probably not succeeding but still trying. 

“What’s a kid doin’ on this road checking strangers cars?” This time it was the unremarkable round man speaking. He had an accent, not from any of the American states that much Harley was sure of, other than that Harley couldn’t comment further. They looked at him expectantly.

“I’m just walking into town from the truck stop, as one does, and I saw your car and well, you see, I’m quite a good mechanic, been thought some by one of the best” and by god, it still hurt even thinking about The Mechanic. Just a few months after the mandarin incident The Mechanic had stopped making any kind of contact with Harley, and Harley would certainly not disrupt the Tony Stark and so they hadn’t spoken in a year and a half.

“Oh really? How close are you to fixing this mess of a car then?” it was the tall-short girl who spoke up this time. She spoke with an almost perfect American accent, but you could hear the undertone of another accent if listened closely, or just had an ear for that sort of thing.

“Give me two minutes under the hood and five under the car and I’ll be done” Harley spoke with as much confidence as he could muster, “but, you have to let me join you until next time you’re in New York”. This was the most scared the 13 year old had ever been in his life, not even the extremist people had made him as scared as he was now. They all shared a look and slightly amused smiles.

“That is a deal honey, but if you can not fix it, you will not join us. That is the deal, ja?” Apparently, Harley had been wrong about who was in charge. It was the muscle woman who spoke and if she could make deals like that, she was probably the boss. The muscle woman had an accent too, but this one was the most notable one of all of them. Not that he could place this one either. 

Harley looked at them for a couple of seconds before he looked around for tools to help him. He found what he needed in a toolbox a couple of feet away from where they stood, nodded at the four carnies and went back to the broken-down car.  
When he was done under the hood he popped it back down and started going under the car itself. Before he was completely under he saw someone walk towards the bad tier and start filling it with more air.

He was done a minute or so before he said he would be. It was a small show of ability, but mostly it was good to add a minute or two so you had some leeway. He walked back to where the four carnies were waiting with a slight smile on his face.

“Let us try out the car then. See if you are as good as you said you were and to see if the deal goes through.” This muscle woman seemed more and more like one of those over-explainers, to Harley great annoyance. He really hated it when adults assumed he didn’t understand anything. He wasn’t too nervous, he knew he was good for it. However, he was anxious to see if they would just drive away or actually hold their end of the deal. 

 

As it turns out, Harley really didn’t have anything to worry about. Carnies are apparently more honest than his dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still don't know when I'm gonna update next, sorry. I appreciate all feedback


	3. Carnies for the win, mostly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can yoo believe every chapter so far has been a filler chapter? Neither can I tbh. Refrences to hawkeye comics (2012) is lit, bro

Within a month Harley knew every name, what they did here and where they came from of every person traveling with the carnival. Even though he sort of knew everyone, there were only five people he hang around with for the most part. 

Susie, the tall-short girl, turned out she was from Germany. She didn’t talk much about her family or how she got to join the carnival. Her long-short body did apparently help make her an amazing acrobat though. She could do all sort of amazing tricks and had taken on the role of the snake girl at the carnival. She could twist herself in all sorts of positions that just looked painful. Susie was close to Harley’s age and they got along pretty well. She was a couple of years older, so she teased him relentlessly. The teasing was mostly about him being small. She also taught him some German, mostly just curse words and how to make the few German tourists they came over come see the show.

Hannah, the muscle woman, on the other hand taught him Norwegian religiously. Hannah didn’t talk much about anything from before she joined the carnies, but she did tell him of the Scandinavian countries. Hannah taught him some Danish and Swedish too, but Harley butchered the pronunciation so it all sounded more Norwegian. She became his school teacher too as the months went by. Taught Harley all she knew about world history and math. She might have been a math’s teacher before she became a carnie, because she really did know a lot of complicated math. Harley’s first assessment of her had been somewhat right; Hannah was the co-leader and the strongwoman of the show. When Hannah didn’t have shows she was manning the rides.

Hannah’s co-leader was the unremarkable round man, Josef. Josef was from one of the former soviet countries, he never said which one but taught Harley the same things Susie taught him only in Russian, or at least Harley thought it was Russian. The round man was the ringleader and introduced every show and was responsible for money, commercial posters and the another one of the rides.

The tall man who taught Harley more on the mechanics of each of the rides, was named Chad. Every time Harley was going to a lesson or just to hang out with Chad he had to take some time before he went so he could get the giggles out. Chad didn’t Look like a Chad, but he was one of the best people Harley had ever met. Chad was funny and had the answers to almost anything, like a walking talking encyclopedia. Another thing about Chad was that he was partly deaf. In comparison was ASL easier to learn than the spoken languages, or that was how it was for Harley. He and Chad used it to talk shit about others sometimes, but mostly when they were too tired to open their mouths. 

The fifth person Harley hang out with was Erik. Erik was plain awesome. His parents were Indian but had moved to the US before he was born. Erik was one of the few people in the carnival that talked about his life before he joined. He had told Harley that his parents weren’t the nicest of people and he had ran away from home. After just one month of being on the run he came over the rest of the carnies. Erik told the tale of how he had visited every day for the two weeks they had been there and the last day Hannah had come over asking if he wanted to join. Apparently, the discussion between Hannah and Erik hadn’t taken to long. Hannah had suggested that Erik would become their new arrow, knife thrower, sniper type guy and Erik had said yes fairly quick after that. 

Erik taught Harley how to throw knifes, shoot arrows and some basic self-defense, and he joked about how this probably was how Hawkeye had gotten so good with arrows. It was all very fun, and Harley learned a lot. 

Harleys own role at the carnival was a weird one. He was second in command when it came to maintenance and went around in every town to attract customers. He could to manage all the rides, but seeing that it made people uncomfortable to see a kid manage the rides he didn’t. When with his friends he didn’t tell them anything about his Ma, sister or aunt. Harley had told Susie and Chad about how his dad left when he was around 4 years old, but other than that they didn’t even know his last name.  
Carnies came and left; different reason almost every time. Some had made the same deal Harley had, they would just stay with the carnival until a certain state or city. Other fell in love or couldn’t take the carnie life anymore. Some traitors even jumped over to another carnival. 

Old Sam was the only one that had left because of old age though. But, he was 90 years old and could still remember the war so really, he deserved some peace. Old Sam had told some great stories, he told stories of Captain America, the Howling Commandoes, a woman named Peggy Carter and how the bastard Howard Stark changed to much after ’55. When Old Sam wasn’t telling stories of war he told about the carnie life and what signs to look for going into a new city to see if it was safe or not. He cared for every single one of the carnies and was always going on and on about their safety.  
\-   
And after eight months of being with the carnival Harley had come to really admire Erik. Erik was just so smart and good at everything. He expressed this to Susie on multiple occasions.  
“I mean, he’s just a year older than you but he knows so much. And he can do So much with his hands! He even understands most of what I say when I talk science at him!” Harley could have gone on forever, but Susie had started silently laughing. Harley frowned at her.

“You’re not allowed to have crushes before you’re at least 14, Harley” she teased him, eyes almost closed from laughing. If she had had them open she might have noticed how still Harley had gone on the mention of the crush. Harley let out what he himself thought sounded like the fakest laughter in history, heart pounding in his ears.

“It’s not a crush though, he’s like my brother, right?” It wasn’t meant to sound like a question, so Harley quickly continued hoping to cover it up. “And I’m 14 next week anyway! Plus, I think Hannah would have told me if there was an age restriction on crushes. How do you know I don’t go on like this about you to Erik anyway?”

Susie only raised an eyebrow but hadn’t seemed to notice how uncomfortable Harley had gotten. However, she did look slightly suspicious as she changed the topic. 

“By the way, since the marriage equality bill was passed I hear Alex proposed to Jack, so our boys will get married in one of the next stops” The way she said it made it seem like there was more behind it. Harley didn’t care at that moment though, he too busy being ecstatic.

“Really? That’s amazing. They have been waiting for this since, like, forever. Oh, I hope I can come” Harley was beaming. He might not be around Alex and Jack that much, but they were two of his favorite people. They were just so kind to everyone, and they so lovely together. 

“Yeah, they’re supposed to go through the travel list tomorrow and decide the state.” Susie still looked suspicious, but less so than before. 

Alex and Jack got married in July and left in august to settle down somewhere near Arizona. Susie still had that suspicious look directed at him sometimes, especially when he stopped talking and hanging out Erik as much as he used to. Erik had seemed a little hurt at that too but jumped off the carnival only two weeks after Alex and Jack. After all his plan before Harley came had been to jump of in New Mexico. So, when Susie asked, Harley just told her that if got used to seeing Erik less and less he wouldn’t miss Erik as much. That was a lie through and through, but no one needs to know that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, irregular updates is probable, and another filler chapeter is too. Feedback appreciated


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is stupid, so stupid

After Erik left Harley took over the knife throwing and arrow shooting. He got a raise too. He had gotten enough money to entertain himself but didn’t really use money on anything other than new clothes every now and then. Now he needed a new wardrobe. He had grown insanely much since September. When September started he had been like 5’4 maybe a little taller, now half a year later he was closing in on 5’9. They were back in Kentucky, and Harley had been traveling for a year and a half and had grown four or five inches taller than last he was here. 

He got Susie and Chad to go with him buying clothes. They went to a mall not far away from where they were almost finished rigging up the carnival. The first store they passed was one selling TV’s and apparently the Avenger were busy taking down Hydra. He walked quickly towards the nearest clothing store when he saw Iron Man. Three years since contact, but his whole body still felt heavy whenever Mr. Stark was talked about or shown in a picture. The store he walked to turned out to be Hot Topic and Chad made a face at him when he and Susie caught up. Susie on the other hand just rolled her eyes. 

“Mein liebste Bruder, nein” Susie said with affection and steered him towards some other clothing store he didn’t catch the name of.  
The whole shopping trip took maybe an hour and a half. Harley still ended it with his arms full of shopping bags. For some reason Chad and Susie had decided in one of the stores that he needed some nice clothes too, not just plaid shirts and some normal looking t-shirts. They made him by a pair of nice-looking pants and a nice-looking dress shirt. There was a high probability that he would never use it but why not. It was better than dealing with Susie’s complaining anyway. 

For making him by nice-looking clothes he made them go into tech and workshop stores. Three of his bags were from those stores. 

By the time they got back it was time for lunch and a new kid had joined them. Mack his name was; he was a year younger than Susie and a year older than Harley. It took about five minutes before everyone was in love with Mack. 

For four months Harley tried to stay away from Mack. It only worked for three. Three months after Mack joined Harley got a message from Hannah that in a month they would be in New York, where he had said he would jump off, and therefor he needed to teach Mack how to shoot arrows and throw knifes. 

‘This must be what hell feels like’ went through Harley’s head every hour he was around Mack. Not because Mack was anything but nice, no that was the issue; Mack was too nice. And happy, god, couldn’t he stop smiling for a second. Or at least stop needing help with throwing or shooting stance, or hand position on the knifes. The last week before New York was the worst. A 15 year old Harley really didn’t like to stand this close to Mack. To make things a little worse, Susie suggested to Hannah that they should make Harley’s last show special and introduce Mack at the same time. So, they were going to do a double act. One of the moves Susie oh so kindly suggested and Hannah agreed to make them do, was standing way to close, face to face and throw the knifes at the same time. Both of them should hit the middle of the mark, so it was decided they should practice. And practicing every chance they got was a new kind of hell. 

Just imagine standing close, face to face, with one of the most beautiful and kindest people you had ever met. To then concentrate on throwing a knife in the opposite direction this person was throwing AND hit dead center of the target. It felt close to impossible; therefor Harley decided that every time they did get it right it was a miracle.

The last day before the big show they finally got it right each time they tried. Harley would like to thank not only god, but every molecule in his body for managing to concentrate enough to make it through without an incident.   
He could not say the same for the actual show. They had done everything perfectly, all was down to the big final; the face to face shot. Noses almost touching, staring into each other’s eyes and concentrating on how the throw had felt each time they had gotten it right. And throw.

The crowd cheered, both had hit their marks dead center. How could Harley not beam. But that’s where it all fell apart.

Harley couldn’t tell Susie exactly what happened later, no matter how hard he tried. All he knew was that he and Mack had been standing face to face after the last shot feeling giddy while the crowd was cheering around them; and suddenly Mack was kissing him. Harley being Harley, froze. Autopilot hit again, because he vaguely remembered waving to the crowd and walking out of the main tent before almost blacking out where Chad had been standing watching the show until then. 

He had been excused by Chad from helping to rig down everything. Both Chad and Susie had asked pretty soon after the incident if he was okay and why he was shaking. He had even seen Mack standing behind them looking worried. When he didn’t manage to give any reason, Chad had written it down to some type of adrenalin shock and taken him to his bed so he could sleep it off. 

Harley did feel bad for not helping and causing any grief. It was his fault his stupid brain reacted that way and no one else should suffer from it. So he tried being as fun as possible the rest of the way to New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda a filler chapter, sorry...  
> As always, updates will be irregular and feedback is apreciated


	5. Drop off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really short and really late, but I'm sick and have been for a while now. Plus school is kicking my ass

Sometimes life sucks, it really does. The closer they got to the spot they had picked out in New York the more symbols they saw. No, not your usual tagging. This was some other carnival.

It’s common knowledge that every carnie was a bit of a crook, petty thiefs who knows how to defend themselves and pickpocket others without anyone noticing. Whoever there are always someone worse. And at this time in July they were in New York, close to New York city. At least Hannah said they would drive closer to the city and help him set something up before they moved on. And so they did.

They helped him find the cheapest apartment in all of New York, in the outskirts of Hell’s Kitchen and disappointingly close to Avengers tower. All the goodbyes took less than 10 minutes before Hannah and the others drove off.

Now Harley wasn’t really homeless, he had an apartment, but he doubted it would feel much like a home any time soon. He was a 15 year old kid living alone in New York almost two years after being thrown out of his home. Yeah, it was totally okay to let the tears roll again. 

Harley figured that without getting a job, the money he had managed to save up would last him a year and a half; two if he didn’t eat too much. He was lucky enough that the apartment had come with most of the furniture. He had a bed, a dresser and even a mirror in his bedroom. He had a functioning bathroom and a good kitchen. The only thing he really missed in the apartment was anything to decorate it with, a tv stand and a tv. 

It took a week before Harley managed to sleep through the night, on the up side it meant he could keep practicing knife throwing and tinker with what little he had of electronics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the short chapter. As always feedback is nice, hope you liked it


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exams have been kicking my ass, so I'm sorry for that and that this chapter also becamereally short... but on the plus side there is a small reference to another marvel character, maybe

When he went out to explore New York some asshole tried pickpocket him, not succeeding of course. Still, have some morals; don’t pickpocket kids. But it is a nice way to easy cash.  
Harley made a hundred dollars exploring New York and pickpocketing. The wallets he took always ended up in the trash after he took the cash. He had no use for their ID or whatever else was in their wallets, so he threw them away.  
Harley had walked around most of New York in a day and was on his way back when he found the easiest target to pickpocket ever. This kinda chubby dude walking around, not paying any attention to anything. So, Harley followed. He almost had the wallet when someone grabbed his arm; and well shit, how was he gonna explain this.

“Hey, kid. Pickpocketing my friend isn’t a nice or legal thing to do.” The stranger said. Not a cop then. Harley turned around and was quite surprised to find a blind dude holding his arm.

“Not to be rude or anything, but how the hell did you catch my arm? You’re blind aren’t ya?” Harley winced slightly. He might have said ‘not to be rude’, but even he knew it was probably a rude question to ask.

The blind man looked slightly embarrassed, as if not expecting the question. But then again how could he have expecting it. 

“Also, if you’re blind, how did you know I was going to pickpocket him? And why are you walking behind him? Are you following your own friend? Why are you following your own friend and how are you following him? Are you sure you’re blind?” Harley had gotten curious and the questions just flowed out of in a steady stream.

“I’m definitely blind, think I would have noticed if that changed. And, uuhh, my friend is about to do something very stupid.” The man had a face like a soft dog. Harley was surprised the man answered him at all.

“And how can you follow people?” Harley knew he was staring, but figured it was cool since the man couldn’t actually see him.

“Everyone has different footsteps, if you know how the footsteps of the one you’re following sounds it’s easy.” It looked like the man surprised himself a little when he answered. Like he couldn’t believe he was still talking to this random kid. Harley had a talent for getting people to answer him.

“How about the pickpocketing then? How could you tell I was going to? Other than me admitting to it of course” Harley could hear the curiosity seeping into his own voice.

“Uhh, well, I picked up on your footsteps probably just a little after you started following him and they got more mixed, so it was either that or you like walking really close to people.” The blind mans attention was clearly still on trying to find his friends footsteps, his whole face showed he was distracted from the conversation.

“Cool.” Was Harley’s only answer before going the rest of the way home to cook something then sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In addation to exams I had mono,,, yay  
> Also Happy Prida y'all!  
> Dunno when the next update will be, and as always I cry happy tears over any form of feedback


	7. Mistakes are made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many many references to different marvel stuff.

Harley did leave his apartment more than he thought he would. That also meant he saw more people, so not all happy news.

The more he was outside, the more news he overheard. A kid dressed as a spider was fighting crime in Queens; something has happened to the Daredevil of Hell’s Kitchen and some girl with arrows was calling herself Hawkeye. One thing seemed certain, there was no need for any more superheroes or vigilantes. 

Another piece of not so good news came in August. The landowners decided to hike up the prices for everyone living in the apartment building. The note had been slipped under Harleys door when he was out. He had a week to get enough money to pay the new rent or he was out.

Harley was out every day trying to steal enough money to accommodate a new rent while stilling being able to eat. If it came down to it, he would rather eat than have an apartment.  
-  
The week did nothing. People just don’t go around with cash anymore. Harley had at least been smart enough to look for safe-ish places to sleep while he was out. Another piece of not so good news however, was that those safe places were closer to the Avengers Tower. 

Tony Stark did apparently live there now. But what was so weird about Mr. Stark moving places when he had moved on from Harley to this new genius kid? Tony’s new youngling still went to school even. In comparison Harley wasn’t shit. Harley dropped out of school when he was 13, not that it was his choice really. The only things he had learned the last two years were from carnies, the new kid had a Stark internship. 

“Bitter? Never heard of her. ‘S not like I had a chance anyway. I mean who do I think I am?” Harley said to himself as he packed down the apartment. 

He still didn’t have much so there wasn’t much to pack. Like when he left Tennessee he packed what he had of money in many different pockets. But this time, he had weapons to pack as well. 

-

What seemed like the biggest challenge sleeping so close to the Avengers Tower wasn’t cops. It was the damned superheroes. They were out and about every single day. Running around or just taking a walk. Catching bad guys or just for fun. And it seemed all of them had a tendency to stop and talk to people who sat alone. All of them.

In just a week Harley has met Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Pepper Potts. Okay, so Miss Potts isn’t a superhero, but she is the CEO of Stark Industries. That’s basically the same as a superhero.

Harley had been sitting alone in Bryant Park for maybe five minutes when he spotted Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barnes walking. Thinking it would look weird if he just up and left, he stayed sitting. First mistake.

The two superheroes spotted him sitting alone, probably not looking to good. Harley tried to discreetly check how he smelt. The smell was okay, like he hadn’t showered for three days instead of six. Looking slightly uncomfortable at the sight of them was the second mistake.

“Hey kid, haven’t seen you around here before” Captain America probably calls everyone under 30 kid.

“Why do people keep insisting on calling me kid?” Harley said exasperatedly under his breath, “Hey, yeah not weird that. It’s the first time I’ve been here so. Don’t you have criminals to stop or whatever?” 

“Not yet at least. So, you just moved here or?” Barnes had a small smile as he asked, but looked generally uncomfortable,

“I know you’re superheroes and stuff, but if you weren’t that would be a really creepy question for you to ask a 15 year old. But, yeah arrived in New York like a month ago.” If Harley doesn’t need to outright lie, he won’t. 

“So, you living with family? Where are they? It can be dangerous to walk alone when you’re so young.” Said Rogers, that famous righteousness shining through. 

“Nah, moved here alone. Haven’t really got any family,” Harley honestly wondered if anyone ever lied to Captain America, if it was even possible. “and one would think it would be less dangerous than letting someone save the president alone.” It might be almost five years ago, but Harley knew how to hold a grudge.

Barnes gave Rogers a curious look, while Rogers just looked embarrassed.

“You an Iron Man fan then? You know I could possibly get him down here to tell you how dangerous New York can be.” Rogers said, still looking embarrassed.

“No thanks, not really a fan of all the superhero costumes.” Harley answered as he started looking for a way away from them. His answer earned him a bigger smile from Barnes though.

The answer seemed to have stunned Rogers a little and Harley took that moment to get up and leave. Possibly a third mistake.

-

When Harley bumped into Miss Potts the next day, he quite literally bumped into her.

“Oh wow, I’m so sorry, really. I mean this situation obviously isn’t just my fault, but I should have walked a little slower and given more attention to where I actually was walking. Oh jeez, let me help you pick this up.” Harley rambled as he helped pick up the papers they had sent flying around. 

“That’s okay honey, I too should have been more careful.” He recognized Miss Potts voice at once.

“You’re Pepper Potts, CEO of SI. Now I’m extra sorry. I bet you were doing something important and now I have ruined everything. I’m so so so sorry.” Harley tried his hardest not to keep talking.

“Yeah that’s me, and its fine sweetheart, no harm done. You can breathe.” Miss Potts started to reach out for his arm but stopped before she touched him. Probably because he was so dirty now.

“Sorry again, eh, here’s your documents. Uh, yeah, nice to meet you, bye.” Harley said as he started to walk away.

“Sorry honey, just, what’s your name?” Miss Potts looked worried as she asked him. Was she asking so she could talk to police? Harley hadn’t done anything wrong.

“My names Harley. Bye, Miss Potts” He decided not to give his full name, and walked away as quickly he could without making it look suspicious. 

He was making so many mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My defence for being so late with this update is work, working in summer is a bitch.
> 
> Feedback is so appreciated, like you don't even know. Also, does anyone actually care about this?


	8. New York where villains attac

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Villains, a lot of them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really bad at updating aren't I

The absolute biggest downside with living in New York in this day and age are all the villains. Most bad guys don’t stand a chance against one or more of the Avengers, but organizations like Hydra likes to plan mass attacks. Like right now they are attacking three different places with different teams of at least twenty people.

Harley had just gotten back from Hell’s Kitchen when the first attack started. He ran towards his little alley to get the rest of his weapons. He crouched down in front of his not so well hidden backpack and took out three knives, the fourth one was already at his ankle. As he stowed them away on his body he took a quick look around.

People were running past the alley, which probably means Hydra is attacking the tower. Harley looked around the alley before starting to sneak back towards the street only to take a double take. ‘Is that a backpack? It definitely is.’ Harley leaned with his back against the wall to give himself a couple of seconds. ‘There is a backpack in this random alley held up with what looks like a form of sticky webbing’. Harley stared for a couple more seconds before shaking his head and sneaking back to the street. Even he hid his bag better than that.

There was complete chaos. People were running in every direction as if attacks like this didn’t happen every month or so. Police were everywhere trying to help people get away. Not that people were really listening. Spiderman was very prominent as he was swinging around and shooting hydra in the face with his webbing. Falcon was flying above diving when he needed.

The situation by the tower seemed mostly in control as Falcon and Spiderman were the only Avengers here. Harley walked towards the park as three new hydra henchmen came out of nowhere. They were running at him, or more accurately to the tower, but seeing as he was between them and the tower… They were running fast and he was frozen. They were only five yards away when Harley took out his first knife. As they got closer he heard someone yelling at him to move. Not in a million years was he going to move. Harley got way too much anger inside and who better to take it out on?

As the first one got within range Harley got into his fight position. He gripped the knife tightly before spinning it once and attacking. He knew he was small and probably not strong enough, but he attacked anyway.

He went for the legs first. Sliding down, like he was playing guitar at a rock concert, knife towards the knees and looking up to see if he had to block an attack. The hydra man went to get his gun as he sidestepped, figuring out that it would take more than a punch to get Harley out of the way. Turning quickly on one knee Harley took a second knife out. As he didn’t have shield or anything else to protect himself he needed to distract his enemy. Even a shitty shot could kill him. Being weaker than his opponent also meant that blocking with his bear arms probably wouldn’t help at all.

He went in again. As Harley was a little shorter a downwards swing would do nothing. He went for the hydra man’s gun arm instead and twisted a little so he could get a tummy stab in. To not get stabbed the hydra man lifted his arm, a mistake on his part. As the arm was lifted Harley went for his armpit. If he could just hit the right nerve or muscle he could seriously damage something, but he couldn’t look to closely where he was hitting as the other arm was coming to hit him.

Harley’s eyes widened. He couldn’t really duck so he slammed himself as hard as he could, with his knifes still in position, into the man. He hit hard enough that they went down. Harley broke his own fall as much as could, but the other guy was the one that really broke his fall. He rolled off the guy and laid still for about two seconds before getting to his knees and taking the knifes out of the hydra guy. There was a slight prickling sensation by his neck, probably just is hair getting too long. The hydra guy was seemed to still be alive, just in immense pain. 

As he was getting up he came across a slight problem. Apparently, the hydra dude had stuck a needle in him as they went down. How does he know you ask? Well the needle in the arm was a big clue. How had he not seen the needle? He had just seen the arm coming towards him.

He got up to feet. It wasn’t like the needle was giving him any pain, but what was in it? Could he go to a hospital with this? Was it the needle or the panic that was making his breathing faster?

“Uh, Spidey? Now that all the bad guys are gone, do you think you could help me out a bit?” Harley called out as loud as he could. It probably shouldn’t have taken that much energy or concentration. His vision was starting to get worse and he wasn’t even sure if he was standing anymore. From what he still could see it seemed that Spiderman was making his way over quite fast.

“I seem to have been stuck with a needle and surprisingly enough I don’t know what it does. So far, the symptoms are disorientation, declining vision and my muscles feel weak. Oh, and since I have no health insurance, and this is America I’m not sure what to do” He could feel himself getting weaker by the second.

Even with the mask Spiderman looked both scared and confused. Harley tried to open his mouth to tease but couldn’t get any words out. The only thing he managed was to furrow his eyebrows.

“Guys, we have a small problem by the tower… it’s not hydra, they’re gone… scratch that, this is becoming a big problem” Harley didn’t hear what was said after that, because lucky him fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always feedback is highly appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

Harley felt himself being carried somewhere. The person carrying him was jostling him around and talking fast. He couldn’t hear what the person was saying and he was too tired to care anyway. His body felt heavy and his eyelids like Thor’s hammer. 

 

“I’m not sure how much help I can be, but I can try to help until dr. Cho arrives?” a voice somewhere in front of Harley says. If someone answers the voice It doesn’t register in his head; the only thing is registering is the pain starting in his arm. The very arm that was between himself and whoever was carrying him, that probably didn’t make it any better. Harley felt himself whimpering and started to move the other arm towards the pain. 

 

Harley only tried for a little bit before giving up, it was too tiring. Everything was going really fast around him, everyone was talking really fast for some reason. 

 

“There you are! Where did you go? You just dropped this kid in my arms and ran you little monster.” the person carrying him shouted to someone. Harley started shushing him but stopped when he recognized the voice of the person answering. Spiderman. 

 

“I’m so sorry, but I had to find mister Stark.” 

“Just call him Tony, kid. It will help everyone and he will stop complaining about how old he feels.” 

“Can we turn back to the problem please? Once we take the elevator up dr. Cho is to be given all information we have. So, Spiderman, did he say anything to you, does anyone know who this kid is?” 

“Uhm, yeah dr. Banner sir. I don’t know who he is and I don’t know if I got all of what he said before he passed out, he was slurring a lot. I think he said his vision started to go dark and it looked like all his energy was just gone.” 

“okay okay, floor 7 JARVIS please.” 

 

JARVIS? JARVIS might know who he is. Did he want that? No. Tony didn’t know and didn’t care who he was. He should not be burdening Tony at all. He should just go, leave, go somewhere else. What did he even think when he set his course for New York. 

 

Harley tried to get out of the arms of whoever was holding him. The person tightened their grip on him, so Harley started trashing even more. 

“Kid, hey, kid, relax. We are gonna take of ya. Don’t make us strap you down when we just wanna help yeah?” the person holding him said while trying his hardest to keep a hold of Harley. 

The elevator gave a ding and everything started moving a lot faster again. 

“How far away is dr. Cho, JARVIS?” 

“Landing outside as we speak sir; the medical staff is on standby.” 

“Great, and the rest of the Avengers, where are they?” 

“Miss Romanoff, Captain Steve Rogers, Sargent Barnes and the Falcon are still making their way to the tower. The twins are out of town and Mister Stark is meeting dr. Cho.... and might I warn you that Miss Potts is waiting for you with the medical staff.” 

“Is she mad?” 

“She seems to be experiencing quite a few emotions at the moment” 

 

A new set of doors were slammed open and Harley was being laid down. It felt like a million things happening at once. Many people touching him and questions being asked every second. Harley felt himself regaining more and more control of himself again. He opened his eyes only to see people above him he didn’t recognize. The doors opened once again and Miss Potts hurried over. 

“What happened? Why have you brought this kid here? Barton we can’t just take … Harley?” 

“Wait, you know this kid?” 

“Yes. Or no. I bumped into him a little while ago. Ehm, anyway, dr. Cho and Tony are trying to figure out what was injected into him and will probably come down soon.” 

“Sorry to interrupt, but the rest of the Avengers are on their way down the corridor.” 

“Thank you, JARVIS” 

 

The doors slammed open for a third time. There seemed to be some confusion among the latest visitors. They had apparently only been informed that someone was hurt and injected with a mysterious substance, not who. 

 

“Steve, isn’t that the kid from the park? The funny one?” 

“Yeah, I think it is... How did all this happen?” 

“You guys have seen him before too? 

“Too, who else?” 

“I’m sorry, can you take this somewhere else? He is getting agitated and is trashing more and more, we need to sedate him and you are in the way.” 

“Of course, sorry m'am.” 

 

The doors slammed shut for the fourth time and Harley went back to sleep once the quiet took over the room 

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

The only noise in the room was the steady beeping from Harleys left. Everything around him was really soft and comfortable. Which was weird. He is sleeping in the streets. This isn’t right. Snapping his eyes open Harley scanned the room. He was the only one in it, but two people are standing on the other side of the door. He can see them through the glass. 

They seemed to notice his awakening and came inside. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Harley could feel himself starting to panic. There was window he could have escaped through hadn’t it been for the fact that they were at least five stories up. And he was not wearing his clothes. 

“Harley, that’s your name, right? How come you’ve bumped into so many of us?” Steve asked while Tony was quite clearly rolling his eyes. Harleys face hardened. 

“Believe me, if I could have avoided it I would.” 

“Kid, what are you doing in New York? You’re supposed to be in Tennesse.” 

 

Harley was a little taken back. Tony remembers him? But why has he never taken contact... He shifted his focus solely to Tony and looked him hard in the yes. 

 

“Aunt kicked me out a little after my ma died. Why you asking? Decided to care all of a sudden?” 

“What?” Tony looked dumbstruck. 

“Relax it’s only two years and some moths since I got thrown out. Not like it matters.” 

 

The dumbstruck look never left Tony's face and when Harley looked over to Steve, he looked mostly concerned. 

 

“Kid, I-I had no idea. What-what happened?” Harley stared into Tony’s eyes again. 

“Do you really care?” 

“Of course I do, I think about you almost every day.” Tony’s words seemed a little slurred and a small blush covered his cheeks. The answer took Harley by surprise, Steve too by the looks of it. 

“I’ll tell you my entire story, but for that I’m going to need something in return.” 

“What’s your price?” Tony asked while looking a little deflated. 

“I want an education”, his answer took the superheroes by surprise. Lots of surprises going around today apparently. Harley continued staring down Tony. “I have been living on the streets or with a circus for the last two years and therefore fallen out of the school system. I want an education and a good one, you will cover it.” 

 

“Okay, yeah. I can fix that.” Tony answered and just smiled at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between these two last chapter my imagination, motivation and inspiration took a long as vacation, so, sorry about that,
> 
> Hope you liked this anyway, and as always, feedback is highly appreciated!


	10. Test

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, what am I even doing

So maybe the whole ‘get me an education now’ thing hadn’t been totally thought out. And really who could blame him. It wasn’t like any of this was planned. Like, at all. 

The best education money could buy would, as explained by Stark, mean he had to catch up over the next two months and start while others were half way through their year. So, it was a lot. A year and half out of school and adding the fact that the education he had he had gotten in bum-fuck no-where Tennessee he was behind to say it mildly. Not that it was going to stop him from becoming the best in the whole goddamn school. 

 

Harley did some research about the school Stark said he would try getting him into. It was a stem school, with different engineering classes; as well as chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics and some other stuff sprinkled in. It was a fairly large school and the classrooms were without comparison. He would have to excel at at least one subject if he was going to get in, no matter how much money Stark got. 

 

Actually talking to Stark wasn’t something he had done. Not since the last info dump. The only contact he had to others at the moment was FRIDAY. Food was left outside his door and sometimes he heard loud voices down the hall. Then again it had only been a week since Spider-Man took him to the tower. 

 

He had asked FRIDAY to compile a list of everything he needed to learn and look for apartment and jobs close to the school Stark had in mind. FRIDAY had done the last two things but was making a test so they could see what he actually knew already. That way he wouldn’t need to go through unnecessary subjects. 

 

“Sir, what languages do you want to be tested in?” the voice from the ceiling asked. 

“Uhm, I mean, uh, I know a little Russian, German, ASL and, uhm Norwegian... I guess you could test me in those.” The talking to the ceiling part wasn’t so weird, it was the whole can’t see the speakers that got him a little freaked. 

“The test will be ready in an hour, I recommend eating before we start. Would you like me to show you the way to the kitchen?” 

“...” 

“You are currently the only one in the tower” 

“Okay FRI, show me the way.” 

 

FRIDAY showed him the way by flicking on lights as he walked. It was eerily quiet as he walked. The only sound that could be heard was a low humming of the lights and every other electronic device around him. Even the padding of his socked feet was muted. As he came closer to the kitchen he walked with his head down. Ony now realizing he hadn’t changed or showered in a week the happiness of being alone grew. No matter how little he wanted to do with these people he didn’t want them to see him like this either. 

 

The kitchen was bigger than he expected, which didn’t surprise him that much. Everything except the toaster was high-tech and the newest of new. Judging by the dent in the floor in front of where the toaster stood, he could guess why. 

The electronic calendar on the fridge told Harley the date of today and the time. November 14, 2.37 pm. He opened the fridge trying not to chew on those numbers. 

The last time Haley had seen so many berries was when he helped old Kent harvest them the summer he turned 12. Oatmeal with berries it was, or as his mother would have said ‘That’s more like berries with oatmeal, Hun’. 

 

It took him maybe half an hour to fix and eat his little meal. 

“How long till the tests ready FRI?” 

“20 more minutes, sir” 

“... are there any clothes that might fit me here” 

“If my calculations on your body type are correct there might be some clothes in a panel. I will lead you to them” 

 

Having someone answer that in a sentence where they use the word body type was how Harley was going to get body issues, he was sure of it. However, he nodded and FRIDAY started to turn on lights to guide him again. After walking for maybe a minute a panel a little in front of him on the right opened. Inside it looked like any teenagers really small closet. Maybe a few to many shirts with science puns, but otherwise very normal. 

Harley grabbed some of it and asked FRIDAY to show him back to his room. The way back wasn’t hard and he might have been able to find it himself, but it would just be too embarrassing to get lost; even if he was alone at the moment. 

 

The shower he took in the bathroom, which was in his room, was at least 20 minutes long. It had been so long since he could use that long in a shower; it was heaven. Going back laying on the bed he felt ready. 

 

“Okay FRI, shall we start the test?” 

“If you feel ready, sir” 

“I do” 

“There is a pen and notepad in your bedside drawer if you need. We will go start with social sciences, history, geography and economics. Next subject will be science, this includes biology and chemistry. There will not be any experiments in this part, but if you would like and feel comfortable with that on a later date, we can do it in mister Starks personal lab. Next part of your test in English. As might know here I will test you in literature and composition amongst other things. The last national mandatory one is mathematics. Here we will go through statistics, geometry, calculus and algebra. For you to cover more ground we will then move on to first-aid, nutrition, sexuality and drug awareness. Here you will get a little presentation before you answer questions. Art, foreign language and physical education are all mandatory at most schools you might be sent to so we will cover this as well. I will test you in all the languages you have mentioned and art. We might do some physical tests after we have checked on your physical health.” 

 

“That is a lot,” Harley let out a long breath, “okay, ehm, let’s get started?” 

 

The test took him four hours. With each subject FRIDAY had started out easy and built up to the harder questions. It was weird kind of fun. All though not doing anything with his hands was frustrating using his brain so much had been refreshing. 

 

The 30 minute nap he took after was well deserved too. 

“Friday... is anyone back yet?” 

“You are still the only one here, however, many are on their way back here.” 

“... will you let me back inn if I go outside for a moment?” 

“Certainly” 

 

It was time to go get his stuff. If it wasn’t already stolen that is. 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

November air in New York was chilly, even chillier when you just had a t-shirt. Harley quietly ducked unto the sidewalk and started walking towards where he had left the backpack. He stopped for a second when he heard a camera, but shook his head and continued. This was New York after all, people took pictures of everything. 

 

He carefully looked around before he slipped into the alley where his back still was. Deciding it would look weird if anyone saw him roaming through the backpack in an alley, he walked to the park nearby. Bryant park was quiet at this time, a few people walking their dogs and others running. Sitting under a lamp he started to go through it. He ignored the sounds of a camera yet again, but questioned how they got any good pictures in the dark. It seemed like everything was there, if there was anything missing it wasn’t important enough to remember. 

 

Harley got up from where he was sitting and started walking toward the public library. He hadn’t been far away, but not feeling like going back just yet and feeling to restless to keep where he was made him move. He stood just staring up at the massive building for a minute before climbing up a few steps and sitting down again. His mind wandered, but not for long. The Iron Man suit came flying towards him and hovered a little above ground when it stopped. Dreading whatever came next Harley gave a little wave. In the back of his mind he swore he heard a camera again, but ignored it. 

 

“Hey” 

“Hey? Hey is all you got? You have been gone for over an hour and told no one where you were going! It is late and dark and you decided this was the time to sneak out?” 

“I didn’t sneak out! I told FRIDAY! And as you might know, THERE WAS NOBODY IN THE TOWER!” 

 

Iron Man lifted the mask and freed a hand from the suit so he could drag it over his face. 

 

“Harley, you could at least have said where you were going.” Stark was much calmer now. 

“I didn’t know when you would be back... You have been gone like all day and you didn’t write a note. Besides, dad, I had to get my stuff.” 

“Your stuff? What stuff?” 

“You know, like, my money and shit” 

“Where did you get that money?” 

“None of your business old man” 

“Have you done anything illegal I need to know about?” 

 

Harley didn’t give an answer to that just started walking back to the tower. He heard Stark sigh behind him before he got picked up and they were flying. When they arrived Harley strode back to his room. 

 

The next day there was no breakfast outside his door so he walked into the kitchen. Stark sat there with a coffee, pancakes in front of him. He gestured for Harley to sit town. 

 

“I heard you took the test FRIDAY put together yesterday.” Harley only nodded. 

“She is getting someone to look at your answers as we speak...” There was an awkward silence, but just as Stark was about to continue James Rhodes came in to the kitchen carrying a newspaper. 

“Tony, what the hell is this?” 

“A newspaper?” 

“I know that. I mean the main headline.” 

 

Harley and Stark started reading. 

‘TONY STARK HAS A SON AND HE MIGHT BE SELLING YOUR KIDS DRUGS’ 

“That’s so not true, I would never touch drugs” Harley said at the same time as Stark said 

“He is not my son, believe me, we all know that!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed. You should probably know that every chapter i write is rushed and bad and i would love feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> updates will probably be irregular af, sorry.


End file.
